How to assign and use batch names in SpineOMatic

The Reports function in SpineOMatic generates a list displaying the Date & Time the items were scanned, the barcode numbers, the User (this is the batch name), the library that owns the item, and it's location. Besides statistical value, the report can be copied onto the Clipboard, and then pasted into Excel. With some manipulation of the data, the barcodes can be saved as a text file that can be used by a web form that will go through the process of removing the Alma Work Orders on the items without having to manually do the Scan in Items function with the "Currently at" location set to Technical Services and again with it set to Circulation. Some additional work may be needed to manually correct problematic records. Using the batch name option ensures that you are not trying to remove Work Orders that no longer exist, because they were items that were processed hours earlier. Using batch names saves time and increases accuracy. Here are the instructions on how to assign names to a batch in SpineOMatic and how to use them.

In SpineOMatic, the Reports Tab (Panel) has the option to narrow the range of a report by dates. However,  if multiple batches of labels are made on the same day, it can be problematic to tell the difference between the batches when the report of barcodes is created. If you know the approximate start and end times when the barcodes were scanned then you can manually narrow down the items that you need.

As a simple solution to this problem and to reduce errors, it is possible to specify a username in SpineOMatic before a batch of barcodes is scanned and the labels are printed. Then it is easy to filter the report to show just the specific batch that you need.

If you do not assign a name to a batch, it is still possible to get a list of all of the barcodes for a specific date range, then you would need to delete all of the lines that do not belong to the batch by narrowing down the times when the items were scanned in. Assigning a batch name simplifies this process, especially if someone else needs to retrieve a different batch of items later on the same day.

Batch names are specific to an individual computer, since SpineOMatic stores the information as files on the hard drive. It is not possible to access a particular batch that lives on a different computer.

These instructions were written using SpineOMatic v.7.0, Windows 10, Microsoft Excel 2016, and the Alma Classic User Interface. For additional information about SpineOMatic, consult the official manual by clicking on About from any Tab in SpineOMatic.

The latest version of this can be found at: https://libldt.clarify-it.com/d/9d42xx

  1. In order to assign a name to a batch, click n the check box next to Require Username.
  2. The User box above the left column will turn yellow, and instructions & restrictions about the Username will appear in the Output box below. These instructions will go away once a name is chosen. Type a name into the User field, and press Enter.

Typing the Username is not case sensitive. However, when you press Enter, it will change to all capital letters.

  1. You will see the username that you have chosen.
  2. Now click on the Print Setup Tab,
  3. and click on the radio button for Batch print. This changes you from the single label mode to being able to make labels for a large batch of items.
  4. Now you can scan items into your designated batch, and print out the labels. Specific instructions for this can be found on the SpineOMatic Documentation Links page.

Be sure to remove the username once you have finished adding items to the current batch, to prevent extraneous items from being included, especially if you aren't planning on producing the report right away.

Using the Reports Tab

  1. In SpineOMatic, When you click on the Reports Tab (SpineOMatic documentation refers to it as a Panel), this is the default information that will appear.
  2. The default range of dates begins at the beginning of the month, and ends on the current date. The range of dates can be modified by clicking on the drop down arrows next to each date field.
  3. Click on Run to get a basic bare bones report.

     4.   In the peach reports results window , you will see the quantity of all of the labels made during the specified date range, and the quantity for each batch, if a batch name was assigned.

  1. To generate a report with more details, click on the radio button next to Details (filtered by:)
  2. It is okay to leave this field blank, especially if you want to see information for multiple batches, or if you don't remember the name of a batch.
  3. Then click on Run.
  4. In the report results window, you will see that multiple batches of labels were made within the dates specified. In this instance, some batches did not have a name, and some were assigned to LLAMA. In addition to the date & time the barcodes were scanned, and the username assigned to the batch, you will also see the actual barcodes, the library that owns the items, and the locations where they live.
  1. To generate a report with data for a specific batch, in the Details (filtered by:) field, type in the username assigned to the batch.
  2. Click on Run.
  3. You will see a new line in the reports results window: Filtered by: , followed by the batch's username.
  4. You will see the results narrowed down to just the one batch.
  5. To export the information to another program click on Copy to clipboard.

    6.   A confirmation message will appear: ...copied.

Copying creates a text file with all of the information from all of the different fields that were generated. The information could be pasted directly into a new Microsoft Word document, or a new text document; however, for the purpose of removing Work Orders, only the barcode numbers are needed. It is cumbersome to remove the unwanted information from a Word document or text file. The solution is to paste the information into Microsoft Excel, but it involves a little more than just clicking on the Paste button.

Open Microsoft Excel.

And start a new Blank workbook. ... Don't Paste yet!

  1. You will want to select multiple columns by clicking and dragging in the letter row above the actual cells themselves. Select about six columns. The columns you have selected will have highlighted letters (in this case green).
  2. As another option, click on the Select All button (the triangle) located to the left of the A column and above the 1 row. It obviously will select more cells than you need, but that's okay.
  1. Click on the Format button in the Ribbon,
  2. and navigate to Format Cells...
  1. The Format Cells window will open.
  2. Click on the Number Tab
  3. Select Text.
  4. Click on OK.

If you do not change the format of the cells, then the barcode numbers will lose their leading zeros when the information is pasted into the cells, which for our purposes breaks the barcodes, and the Work Order removal process will not work right.

Now that the cells have been formatted, click on Paste.

You may see a message about inconsistencies with the size of the information and the size of the cells in Excel. This is not a problem. Click on OK.

Now you will see the report information from SpineOMatic pasted into separate columns. The columns may be a little squished together, but the information is all still there.

This is what the barcodes would look like it you did not change the format to text first - the zeros at the beginning have been deleted. If you try to enter them into Alma this way, the correct records will not be found.

  1. You can manually adjust the width of each column by dragging the line dividers between the cells (just go all the way up to the row containing the column letters).
  2. It is now much easier to see the data.

There is also a quicker way to automatically resize the columns, if you don't want to adjust each column width manually.

  1.    Click on the Select All button located to the left of the A column and above the 1 row.
  2.    Double click on any boundary between two column headings (the cursor will change to a cross-like symbol with left and right arrows when you are in the right place).

The columns are now legible, easy to use and nicely sized based on the number of characters in each cell (or the length of the column header).

The fist six lines of the report contain useful information, but it isn't necessary for the next steps of creating a text file. The Total labels printed in date range should match the number of call number labels that you actually printed. If it doesn't match up, you will want to stop and investigate.

You will  need to delete these first few lines of text, and the column headers.

  1. Do this by clicking and dragging on the green row numbers to highlight the entire rows.
  2. Then do a right click and navigate to Delete.
  1. Once you have verified that the batch contains just the numbers that you want, you can deleted the date/time column and the batch name column. These are no longer needed. Click and drag in the column letter row to highlight the columns you no longer need.,
  2. Then right click, and select Delete.

Before you delete any of the columns with location information, you will want to first delete any entire rows for items that show as Library Service Center. These items are being sent to the Storage warehouse and should not have work orders on them, and should show as Item in Place in Alma. Trying to remove work orders on these items will cause problems.

  1. Highlight and drag the location columns that you want to get rid of.
  2. Right click, and navigate to Delete.

The only column remaining should be the barcode numbers. You will need to delete any barcodes that were scanned twice in a row. If you need to make more than one copy of a barcode, be sure to change the number of labels needed instead of scanning the barcode multiple times. If you do need to do multiple scans you may want to make a note that it will appear with multiple scans in the list of barcodes report. Always using the designated barcode quantity button only adds the barcode to the batch report once. However if you just scan a barcode multiple times, with the quantity set to 1, then the barcode will appear in the list multiple times, and all of the extra barcodes will have to be deleted from the list. Also remember to delete the column header word barcode. If you don't you will get an error message when you run the API.

When you have the list of barcodes correct, highlight the numbers within the column.

Click on Copy.

All of the text files will be saved on the communal F: Drive. Storing the information here ensures that the batch information can be accessed again when there are problems, for statistical purposes, or if a co-worker needs to carry on processing a cart where someone else left off.

You will want to navigate to the Marking folder located on the F: Drive. There is also a desktop shortcut to the Marking folder on the Marking Workstation. Double click on the shortcut icon to open it.

  1. This is the complete path to navigate to the Marking folder.
  2. Double click to open the Work Orders API Files folder. All of the text files live here, with a new folder inside for each month of the calendar year.
  1. Double click to open the folder for the month that you need, or
  2. click on New folder to start a folder for a new month. Type out the full name of the month and the full year to name the new folder.
  1. To make a new text file, click on New item,
  2. Navigate to Text Document.

New Text Document will be highlighted in blue. This is your opportunity to rename the file to reflect the real contents.

To make it easier to find the files in the future, use the following format: Date the labels were made + Month (spelled out) + complete year + the kind of items being marked (most of the time this will be New books) + your name . The file extension will be .txt. Once you have renamed the file, press Enter to save your changes. Then double click the file name to open it.

  1. Click on Edit
  2. Navigate to Paste [or press Ctrl + V]

You should see the list of barcodes appear in the text document. If you see any data other than the barcode numbers, or if the format appears off, investigate and try again.

  1. If everything looks okay, click on File
  2. Navigate to Save
  3. Click on File again
  4. Click on Exit.

You have now successfully created the text file, and are ready to run the Spine Label Processing API. See the link below.

Related Documentation

23 August 2017 version

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